Tubing catcher



Jan. 5 1932. CRIPPEN 1,839,652

TUBING CATCHER Filed April 19, 1930 3 f AV Cr/ppea Patented Jan. 5, 1932 siren STATES PATENT oFFicE rnnnnsron N. ORIPPEN, oi Los mourns, orlmnonmii, assreuon'ro WILLIAM n.

GnIBERsoN, or LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA f being TUBING carcnna Application filed April 19,

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in tubing catchers.

Tubing catchers are connected ina line of oil. well tubing-for the purpose of catching or arresting the tubing should it fall or break while being. loweredintothe well or while elevated therefrom. The casing through which the tubing passes may have its inner surface coated with mud, oil, grease or the like, thus making it difficult for the slips to catch. a. s

It is obvious the quicker the catch, the shorter the fall. 'Many times the string of tubing maybe from four to six thousand feet deep, or deeper and an actual fall of one foot may mean a movement ofseveralfeet of the upper end ofthetubing, because of the taking up of the stretch when the tubing is caught. Thecatcher must operate in a restricted area which is controlled by the diameter of the casing. This diameter at four thousand feet may be approximately six inches more or less, A failure of the slips to catch would be fatal'to the tubing.

One object of the invention is to provide amplified or positive gripping means for a tubing catcher, whereby circumferential grippingteeth, having a combined circumferential length equal to or greater than the inner circumference of. the casing, are provided.

An important object of the invention is to provide a head having inclined slip actuating faces at different elevations but adjacent to each other, whereby slips may be used thereon and the casing gripped at different elevations or points one above the other, thus assuring a more positive catching action. I

A further object of the invention is to provide casing gripping slips disposed instaggered relation so as to individually engage separate vertical paths along the innerjwallj of the casing and also soas to actuate n over lapping vertical paths, whereby the entlre inner circumference of the casing is employed for gripping purposes.

A still further object of the invention is t o provide a tubingcatcher' having superposed groups of slip faces instaggered relation and arranged so as to provide continuous fluid passages when in thecasing.

'a'portion of the weight 1930. Serial No. 445,776.

One. of the advantages of the invention is that by employing amplified gripping areas, the toothed faces of the slips may be set back or inwardly'so as to give more clearance between said teeth and the inner wall of the casing when the slips are dormant. Theresult of this is that shimmying of the Weight 27 ,due' to its spring poise, will notdisplace the slip enough to cause the teeth to grip the casing walls and interfere with the easy low-- ering or raising of the tubing in the well.

Another object of the invention is to conn'ectall of the slips with a common operating means, whereby said slips willrnot operate successively but simultaneously, and also whereby if one slip is actuated all of the slips, will be actuated.

, A constructionrdesigned to carryout the invention will be hereinafter described together withother features of the invention.

, Thejinvention will be more readily understood from a readingof the following specification andby reference-to the accompany-v ing drawings in which an example of the invention is shown, and wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a tubing catcher constructed in accordance with the invention, member being shown in section,

Figure 2 is a plan View ofthe same,

Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal crosssectional view taken on the line 3-3 ,of Figure l, and T Figure -1- is an enlarged horizontal crosssectional view. taken on the line of Figure 1. v '7 In the drawings the nuinerallO designates atubular section which may form part of the well tubing. Thesection 10 has a collar 11 at its lower end and it may have 'a suitable coupling ineansat its upper end for connectin with a string, of, tubing. A head 12 is rigidly fastened on the tubing and provided at its upper end with the usual'reduced fishing neck-l3 v The head is formed with'two sets of in,- clinedj guide faces A and B, respectively. Asjillustrated, each. set comprises three downwardly a'nd'inwardly inclinedfaces 14 equally spaced on the sides of the head. A;

guide rib 15 extends down the center of each face and each rib is dove-tailed in crosssection. The'faces of one set are disposed in staggered relation to the faces of the other set. Between each pair of faces is a vertical concaved channel 16. The channels 16 of the upper set A are immediately over the inclined faces of the lower set B, while the channels of the lower set are immediately under the faces 14 of the upper set A. In order to provide free passage of the fluid from the upper to the lower channels the head is shouldered at 17 and these shoulders are rounded off.

On each face 14% is mounted a slip 18 having itsinner side or back fiat so as to lie against and slide upon the guide face 14. The outer side or front of each slip is curved transversely in an are substantially concentric to the tubing section 10 and is provided with the usual gripper teeth 19. Each slip is also givena wedge shape, beingreduced from it's'bottom to its top. It is preferable to give the back of each slip the same angle of inclination as its correlated face 14 and to make the front of the slip on the same radius set reston these shoulders.

Each slip has a pair of spaced ears 21 on its bottom. The slips of the upper set A receive the upper ends of links 22 and are pivoted thereto, while the ears of the slips of the lower set B receive and are pivoted to the upper ends of links 23. The shoulders 17 also extend across the bottoms of the upper faces 14 and normally the lugs of the upper Bosses 24 are provided at the bottom of the head andat the lower ends of the lower guide faces and form supports for the lower slips.

The bosses 24; are formed with vertical slots 25 and thelinks 23extend through these slots. The outer faces of the bosses 24 and the upper-end of the head maybe rounded circumferentially to conform to the curvatureof thewell casing in whichthe catcher is used. The links 22extend down through the channels 16 of the lower set offaces B and leave sufficient space on each side fora free passage of-the fluid,

When the slips are supported on the shoulders 17 and the bosses 2d and are in their normally inactive position, the lower ends of the links 22 and 23 will terminate in substantially the same horizontal plane. The lower end's'of these links are-pivoted between ears 26 of a cylindrical weight member 27,

7 which is freely slidable on the tubing section catcher is reducedand a more compact device is had. The spring is of such length as to be compressed to a slight extent by the weight member -when it is in its lowermost position; however, the load is carried by the shoulders 17 and the bosses 24 rather than by the spring so that theparts are positively sustained when inactive and will not unduly vibrate when the catcher is being lowered into the well.

In'using the catcher it is connected in the string of tubing, as-by the collar 11 and other similar connections, and is located in the string wherever found desirable. Usually the catcher is located near the bottom of the string, but its location may be changed and more than one catcher-may be used in a string if desired. However, the catcher is always located within the casing. I Normally the slip's 18 will be withdrawn within the diameter of the head 12 and will not "engage the casing when in such position, thus permitting the catcher and the string'of tubing to'be freelynioved up and down in the casing.

If the tubing above'the head 12 should break at'any point inthe string or should one of 'the-cuplings of the string be stripped, or should the string be dropped, the operation will beas' follows. The inertiao'f the weight member 27 accentuatedfby thetende'ncy of the spring 3O to expand, will cause said weight to momentarily rem ainrrelatii ely stationary and thus maintain its position. The head 12 and tubing section 10, however, being attached to the falling string'of tubing, will tend to descnd more rapidly and consequently the links 22 and 23,being sustained by the inert weight member27', willsupport'the slips 18,

whereby the latter will be relatively dis-- placed radially ofthehead by thedownward movement of the inclined faces 14 and the ribs 16. I

This'outw'ard displacement of the slips will cause the sharp'teeth 19 to'qu'ickly bite into theinner wall ofth'e casing and thus arrest the parts and holdthe catcher againsta further drop, This action may be very'rapid or it 'inay'not, according toconditions. l/V'ells from four thousand to seventhousand feet in depthh'ave become quite'common in the oil fields'and the stretch'ina string of tubing of this-length may amount tolconsider'ably more than a root; It is, therefore, obvious that even 'thoughthe slips may catch on the wall of the casing "after the head has 'treveled downwarda few inches, the stretch in'the a.

tubing will be taken up so that at the top of the well a fall of two or three feet may be registered. Casing is often dented or'otherwise distorted and its inner surface is frequently coated with heavy oil or paralfin.

By employing the upper and lower set of slips ample gripping surface is provided- The slips are not only staggered but relatively overlap circumferentially of the head and thus operate in overlapping vertical paths, thereby acting on theentire inner wall of the casing. Should the casing be bent or bulged so that one slip would be substantially inac-- tive, the overlapping slips will assure a catch, particularly because of their location at a different elevation. Should a slip, for any reason, be broken or fail to act, the slips of the other set will carry out the catching operation effectively. By providing amplified gripping faces the strain on individual teeth is reduced and injury to the casing is less slips to shimmy and frequently unintentionf ally engage the wall of the casing when the catcher is being raised or lowered. By the present arrangement where amplified grip ping teeth are provided in two circumferential areas a more certain gripping is assured and, therefore, a greater clearance can be given between the teeth and the casing with the result that thecatcher may be run in and V out of the casing much faster and with less danger of accidental catching.

Various changes in the size and shape of the different parts, as well as modifications and alterations, may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim, is:

1. In a well tubing catcher, a support adapted to be connected to a string of tubing, head mounted on said support and having inclined guide faces at different elevations, gripper slips mounted to slide on the faces of said head, whereby they are displaced radially thereof, and means for automatically displacing all of said slips in unisonwhen the catcher is dropped.

2. In a well tubing catcher, a support,-a head mounted on the support, a plurality of individual slips mounted at different elevations intermediate the ends of the head, and means for automatically and simultaneously displacing said slips radially due to. its own inertia when the catcher is dropped. J

8. In a well tubing catcher, a support, a head mounted onthe support and having two sets of inclined guide faces, one above the other,gripper slips mounted to slide on said faces, a weight member slidable on the support, and means for making connection between the weight :member and allof the slips foractuat-ing the latter i I 4. The combination set' forth in claim 3, withthe inclined faces, and slips of one-set being staggered with relation to the faces and'slips of thejothe'r set.

5. The combination set forth in claim 3, with staggered fluid chanlielsextending vertically ofthe head between the faces and communicating with each other.

6. In a well tubing catcher, a support adapted to be connected to a string of tubing, a head mounted on said support, outwardly displaceable slips mounted on said head and disposed, at different elevations, and a weight slidable on said support and connected with each slip.

7. In a well tubing catcher, a support adapted to be connected to a string of tubing, a head mounted on said support, outwardly displaceable slips mounted on said head and disposed at different elevations, a weight slidable on said support and individual connections between each slip and the weight, whereby the weight is connected in common withall slips.

8. In a' well tubing catcher, a support adapted to be connected to a string of tubing, gripper slips mounted one above the other for outward displacement on the support, and a weight slidable on the support and directly connected with each slip.

9. As a subcombination in a well tubing catcher, a head having two sets of inclined slip faces disposed circumferentially thereof and one set being above the other set and in staggered relation thereof.

10. In a well tubing catcher, a support, a

head mounted on the support, and outward- 1 1y displaceable gripper slips are mounted on the head, some of said slips being mounted at a higher elevation on the head than the other slips.

11. In a well tubing catcher, a head adapted to be connected to a string of tubing and having integral inclined slip faces, some of said slip faces being at a higher elevation on the head than the other slip faces, and gripper slips mounted on said faces for outward displacement when slid upwardly on said 1 faces and whereby said slips will grip at clifferent elevations.

12. In a well tubing catcher, a support H carried by the support for radial displacement, the slips of one set being abovethose of the other set and in staggered relation FREDERICK N. 'CRIIPPIEN. 

